514 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ December v, 1864. 



FOUNTAINS AND EOCKWOEK AT DINOEBEN 

 HOUSE. 



These, which we noticed at page 436, were executed in 

 terra cotta by Mr. James Pulham, Broxbourne, Herts, in 

 the year 1859. 



The fountain called the Hebe 

 is represented in our engrav- 

 ing ; it is 20 feet high, and is 

 in the centre of a four-lobed « 

 basin 42 feet in its widest dia- 

 meter. The whole cost .£280. 

 The material of which it is 

 formed is terra cotta of the 

 colour of Caen stone, and is 

 said to be very durable, which 

 might be expected from its 

 being burned until semi- vitri- 

 fied. The water of the foun- 

 tain, from the jug held by 

 Hebe, flows into a cup held in 

 her other hand; but it also 

 rises from the nostrils of four 

 dolphins, and from the upper 

 basin falls into the lower one. 

 Round the latter is an outer 

 basin 3 feet wide, for plants. 

 A similar Hebe fountain has 

 been sent to Bombay by Mr. 

 Pulham, to be fixed in the 

 grounds of Sir Jameset Jee- 

 geebhoy. 



It is ornamental, even when 

 the water is not flowing, which 

 cannot be said of all foun- 

 tains. 



TEENTHAM BLACE1 

 GEAPE. 



Responding to your request 

 in the Jotfbnal as Hokti- 

 CTOTtrBE at page 410, 1 beg to 

 state that I obtained a plant 

 of the Trentham Black Grape 

 direct from Mr. Fleming as 

 soon as it was distributed, 

 ■which I think was in the year 

 1858. I was induced to get it 

 through the recommendation 

 of a friend of mine (now 

 deceased) who had just visited 

 Trentham, and had there seen 

 it fruiting remarkably freely 

 in pots. So fine were the 

 bunches, and such the num- 

 ber produced on comparatively 

 small Vines, that he thought 

 it would prove the most useful 

 and prolific Grape for pot cul- 

 ture that he had ever seen. 

 Being myself fond of the cul- 

 tivation of Vines in pots, I 

 immediately set about propa- 

 gating it from all the laterals 

 I could command, and by the 

 autumn I succeeded in ob- 

 taining several strong canes 

 fit for fruiting in the en- 

 suing season. These were duly 

 started the following spring, 

 and I naturally anticipated 

 a fine crop of Grapes, but to 

 my surprise such was not the 

 case ; for, instead of bunches, 

 I had claspers in alm ost every 

 case, the isolated bunch or 

 two produced being also of a 

 very inferior character com- 



pared with what I had been led to expect. I, however, 

 resolved to try it another year, and at the same time to 

 send an eye or two to a friend of mine, who is a first- 

 class grower of pot Grapes, to see if he would meet with 

 any more certain success than I had done. However, in 

 the following spring I received a note to the effect that 

 Trentham Black had proved a 

 failure with him, as well as 

 myself, and that he considered 

 it a shy bearer, and conse- 

 quently an unsuitable variety 

 for pot culture. 



So much for its unsuitability 

 for pot culture. I will now 

 endeavour to state its adapt- 

 ability for vinery cultivation. 

 The original Vine was planted 

 out in the June of the same 

 year in which we received it 

 into an inside border of a cool 

 vinery, where the Grapes are 

 generally ripe by the first week 

 in September. It was allowed 

 to grow vigorously for a couple 

 of years, and the third year 

 we hoped to have taken a 

 few bunches from it; but 

 strange to say, although an 

 unusually strong well-ripened 

 cane, it showed but two or 

 three bunches, and these were 

 small and puny. The next 

 year, however, the result was 

 gratifying, and for the last 

 two or three years it has borne 

 magnificent bunches, with a 

 profuse bloom of an intense 

 purplish black colour, and a 

 most delicious flavour, being 

 more juicy and rich than the 

 Black Hamburghs in the same 

 house, and it has in every 

 way proved itself a most desir- 

 able (and with my employer a 

 favourite) variety. I have ob- 

 served that it retains its leaves 

 in a healthy green state much 

 longer than any other variety 

 growing in the same house, 

 which would naturally lead one 

 to suppose that the bunches 

 would hang much longer than 

 on the other varieties having 

 less vitality. This, however, 

 is not the case with us, for 

 we find the berries invariably 

 mould and decay earlier than 

 the Black Hamburghs in the 

 same structure. This cir- 

 cumstance arises probably 

 from the berries containing 

 a larger quantity of those 

 juices which tend to hasten 

 decay. 



From the above facts I 

 am led to infer that this 

 variety is not.a desirable one 

 for pot cultivation ; but when 

 grown in a cool or warm 

 vinery, and closely pruned, it 

 cannot fail to give universal 

 satisfaction. For an orchard- 

 house, regulated as Mr. Pear- 

 son advises or teaches in his 

 very sensibly written book on. 

 orchard-houses, I have not 

 the slightest hesitation in 

 recommending it as a suit- 

 able variety. — Heney Mtjubo, 

 Hebe Fouhtaik. Clevelands, Lyme Regis, Dorset. 



S3?"' 



life 





